Left To Die
by kappykuo
Summary: Edward Masen was left to die in the middle of the desert, along with his two friends, and only remaining family, Jasper and Emmett. Everything led them to think they were going to die, until- All Human
1. Prologue

Miles and miles of desert stretched out before us. But that didn't make me stop. This was suicide, I know, but nothing mattered. Flanked by my only remaining family, I began my death march.

Not one of my brothers spoke. Complete silence enveloped the landscape, folding into it an eerie quiet, only broken by the sound of three pairs of feet wandering aimlessly across the sand.

"We should head east, towards the Indian Ocean. With our luck, we might make it there before we dehydrate." Jasper croaked through his dry lips after a few hours in the scorching sun.

"I can't believe they just left us to die." Emmett muttered in disbelief. I didn't bother looking at him; I knew he was shaking his head slowly.

"I can." I said quietly. My throat hurt like it was rubbed raw with steel wool. But that would have actually helped me, the blood red liquid running down my throat, and fate didn't agree with me at the moment. Oh no. Not. _One_. Bit.

"Edward, I know things are looking grim, but—" Jasper attempted to calm me down, but his words sparked the fury inside me.

"The _hell_ they are! Jasper, they left us to _die_, in the _middle_ of the _desert_!" I yelled as loudly as I could. I grimaced from the pain it caused in my throat, but went on anyways. "They practically _shoved_ us out of the _plane_, letting us fall nearly _two_ hundred _feet_ into the sand. And the _only_ good things that came out of it were no bloody tests and no bloody broken bones."

Jasper sighed heavily behind me. "Maybe we should stop for the day. The sun's past midday, and that gives us some shade on the dunes."

Clenching my fists at his fruitless attempts to keep us alive, I changed my course down the dark side of the dune we were on. I had to admit, the cool lack of sun felt marvelous against my skin. As soon as I hit the bottom, I collapsed in a heap, as Jasper and Emmett beside me.

"We should get some sleep the first one to wake up should do the same to the rest of us." Jasper muttered as he rolled on his side, away from me and Emmett. I sighed, feeling the waves of hopelessness emit from him. He just had to be an Empath, didn't he?

_I'm never going to see Alice again._

And I just had to be a mind reader. Jasper's depressed thoughts were 180 from his optimistic outlook he showed us. We were going to die out here, but nobody tried to acknowledge that.

Well, nobody except me. At least Jasper and Emmett had important people urging them to survive. I had no one. I was born alone; I was going to die alone, no use denying it.

At least Jasper and Emmett could remember their lives outside of the government-funded asylum for freaks like us. Jasper and his emotional control. Me with my mind reading. Emmett with his super-strength. Alice and her visions. Rosalie and her seductive powers. Freaks.

I fell into sleep against the hard sand.

**A/N: I know I haven't been following up on my other stories, as I promised. Apparently, school affects me _much_ more than I anticipated. I just wanted to post this idea before I forgot about. I'm still writing my others.**

**No worries-  
Kylie **


	2. Resolve

_I opened my eyes for what felt like the first time, blinking them several times before they focused._

_Across the room, were two boys, looking no older than twelve or thirteen. One, the younger one, had blonde hair and had his head in his hands, the other, much larger one, had short brown curly hair that stuck to his head. He was watching me intently._

"_Jasper, he's awake!" He said quietly, nudging the blonde boy, who looked up at me immediately._

"_Edward! Thank god!" The blonde one said, jumping at me. I yelled in surprise and scooted back as far as I could into the wall. The boy looked confused._

What's he doing? We're his brothers!_ I heard someone, I assumed the other boy, say to himself._

"_Who are you?" I asked, stuttering. I flinched away when the blonde boy reached towards me._

"_Edward, we're your brothers." He said sadly._ What's going on?

"_I have no idea what's going on!" I yelled as fiercely as I could with my child-like voice. "And if I did, I wouldn't be asking you!"_

"_Edward, calm—"_

"_Who's _Edward_?" I hissed, scooting further down the wall away from the blonde boy._

Oh no. _He shook his head. "Emmett, I think they wiped his memory."_

I jerked awake, sitting straight up. My eyes darted around the landscape and I sighed. Still in the desert. And it was barely past sunset. Light erupted from the top of the dune I was on, shining a girly pink light on across the sky. I wish I could say clouds peppered the sky, but this is the desert we're talking about.

Emmett snorted and sprawled out on the sand beside me, sending me three feet in the air and onto Jasper. Both woke up instantly.

"Edward, get off of me!" Jasper huffed and shoved me off his stomach._ Honestly. A collapsed ribcage is the last thing I need right now._

I stood up, swaying slightly, and stretched. And shivered. _Shivered?_ Desert, _really_? Talk about moody weather.

"We should start up again." Jasper sighed, looking east. "We can rest again at—"

"Jasper, _really?_ I want to sleep." Emmett whined, his head in the sand. I attempted to pull him up but he shoved his hands a few inches into the sand. "A few more hours." _Or days. Somebody will find us, right?_

"Emmett, the only people who know we're out here want to dissect us." I snarled viciously at him. Emmett's eyes shot open and he started at me innocently. "Now, I don't know about _you_, but I'd much rather die a slow painful death of dehydration than contribute to _that_ kind of scientific community."

"Edward!" Jasper snapped and sent a wave of calm at me. "Calm down. We need to get going."

We all trudged up the side of the dune just as the stars, uncharacteristically bright in the night sky, came out. It was a new moon tonight, apparently.

"I've never seen the stars." I muttered, gazing up at the twinkling lights.

"So much for an exciting first day in the outside world." Jasper chuckled humorlessly. But he was right. Ever since the doctors had wiped my memory, I had not been outside. I hadn't _seen_ outside, only in the occasional picture a nurse or visitor showed me.

So far, outside sucked. The day was too hot and the night was too cold. I shivered again at the low temperature.

_Don't worry, it gets better._ Jasper thought, smiling apologetically at me. He probably felt my disgust for the world.

It was silence, complete utter silence for the next few minutes. We must have covered a mile or so before I spoke.

"How do we know we're going the right direction?" I asked Jasper, since Emmett was dead on his feet.

"We were being transported from Spain to Eritrea." When I gave him a questioning look, Jasper rolled his eyes. "I overheard the guards and captain. But that's not the point. Unlike _some_ people," Jasper looked pointedly at me, "I paid attention to my surroundings.

"The Nile, from what I could tell from the look I got in the helicopter, doubles back on itself, leaving a 200-mile bend, which we are in the middle of. I'm guessing just 60 miles from the east bank." Jasper smirked at my incredulous face.

"We actually have a chance." I breathed. Jasper bit his lip and looked away.

"Maybe." He forced out. "We'd have to get 30 miles a night, _without_ the asylum finding us."

"Still!" For the first time in months I actually smiled. "30 divided by 12 is 2 and a half!" I nudged Jasper in the ribs slightly. "We _do_ have a chance!"

"Wow, _somebody_ perked up." He muttered. I glared at him.

"Oh, and you couldn't have told me _yesterday?_" I snarled, though it was half-hearted.

"Sleep did me some good." Jasper said smugly and kept on walking. "I'll count footsteps if you count seconds. It might pass the time."

I nodded and began counting, looking straight ahead.

_One, two three, four, five_…

_Alice better be right about this…_ A woman's thoughts came tome. They sounded far off, maybe a few miles out. They sounded strangely like Rosalie… but Rosalie wouldn't have escaped. _Couldn't _have escaped. At least, not without Alice.

_Jasper here I come!_

My eyes widened and I looked up.

**A/N: Of course; I bet half of you knew I was going to do that. And guess who's with them...**

**JKage! That would make this too easy to write! No, it'll be a while before she shows up. Just long enough to rub it in Edward's face that he's single. Hehehe... yeah. No making promises as to when I update!**

**Oh, and the chapters with eventually get longer.**

**No worries!  
Kylie **


	3. Reunion

"Jasper

"Jasper!" I pointed in the direction of Alice's thoughts, which were becoming more excited by the second. "Emmett!"

_Please let Alice be right. I'll die if I have to carry this water one more mile._ Rosalie's thoughts then drifted off to Emmett. Hastily, I concentrated solely on Alice.

_God, Rosalie is such a priss. We're on horses, for god's sake!_

And then I could spot the two trails of dust rising behind two white horses, each carrying a black-clad passenger. The smaller one waved at me, a gesture I could barely see from this distance.

"Alice…" Jasper's face lit up. "Alice!"

The horses galloped closer until they were on top of the dune opposite from us, about thirty feet away. Jasper and Emmett were twitching, their thoughts showing their obvious desire to close the distance between them and their girlfriends.

"And you guys are waiting for _what?_" I asked them like they were idiots. After standing still for a moment in shock, my brothers catapulted from their spots on either side of me and began sprinting as fast as they could up the side of the other dune. Alice and Rosalie were rolling down to meet them.

"Alice, oh my god! How did you guys get away?" Jasper yelled, before kissing Alice passionately on the lips. His happiness was infectious due to his power.

"I saw… you guys… falling out… of… the copter…" Alice managed between Jasper's kisses. Rosalie didn't even have time talk. I had to look away before I was scarred for life.

I sighed and fell on my butt, leaning against the dune with my hands behind my head. What a wonder they found us, but all in all, it wasn't very surprising. Alice could find us lickety-split.

After a few minutes of reluctantly watching and listening my friends make-out, I got up and strode to the horses, who each had a large 15-gallon tub of water on their backs. Thank god Rosalie and Alice were light.

Just looking at the water made me ravenous with thirst, like a vampire on a killing-spree. I grabbed a canteen hanging off one of the horses' necks and shoved it under the waterspout. When it was full, I hoisted it to my mouth, letting the refreshing liquid soothe my throat. Within seconds, I drained the canteen and refilled it again.

So soon I didn't even realize, Emmett and Jasper were joining in my craze. I was minutely aware of the girls laughing behind us, but I didn't care. I needed hydration. _Now._

A few minutes, after Emmett, Jasper, and I were so full of water we were about to burst, we sat down in a small circle, surrounded by blankets Alice had so generously thought of to bring, and Alice began to tell their escape story, seeing as they already knew ours.

What seemed like hours later, one by one we drifted off to sleep, me being last. I had to use my blanket to muffle my laughter at their dreams.

_A toy store stretched for miles ahead of me…_ Emmett. Hands down.

_I was standing at the altar, surrounded by white, smiling widely as a figure emerged across the aisle from me, her petite form dressed in a wedding gown—_ Jasper's dream. He'd been having it for a while, not that he complained. And, if Alice found out, I knew she wouldn't either.

_Emmett on a beach, patting the seat next to him…_ Rose's perverted dream. I steered clear of her and settled, once more, for Alice. I always paid attention to her dreams; sometimes she had important visions that she couldn't remember when she woke up.

_The five of us were strolling through the busy streets of a small mud village by a river. The Nile. Suddenly, Alice gestured to a very worn-looking Edward and they disappeared inside on of the huts, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper following. _

"_This is it." Alice murmured to herself, and the vision blanked out._

Blanked out, how could it _blank out?_ Usually Alice's visions melted into her dreams, or she woke up right after, but never before had they gone black like that. It worried me, but I decided not to bring it up before Alice woke up. She could be very pissed when she didn't get enough rest.

I rolled over on my back, watching the stars slowly disappear as the sun rose. I knew I'd never be able to sleep once the scorching sun was in my eyes.

_I was running into a large, white, mansion-like house, excited._ Emmett, maybe? _ I was pulling a little boy with bronze hair behind me, his green eyes sunken and depressed. _Jasper or Emmett. This was a memory.

"_Come on, Edward!" I said and dragged him into the house. But I had barely crossed the threshold when Esme quickly detached my brother from me and pulled me into the dining room._

"_Emmett, take it easy on him." She pleaded with me, kneeling down to my level so she could look straight into my eyes. "Uncle Ed and Auntie Liz are… on vacation. They're not coming back. Edward's taking it hard."_

_Through my childish views, I believed my mother. I cautiously went back out into the living room, where my cousin, and soon-to-be brother sulked on the couch, his eyes brimmed with tears. I sat next to him, Jasper soon following on Edward's other side, and we patted his back as he cried. A few minutes later, Jasper had to leave the room, it was so engulfed in depression._

I hardly realized the single tear running down my cheek. So, yeah, this became common when I was surfing Jasper and Emmett's dreams, finding memories of the childhood I had no recollection of, but it still hurt to see them. It still hurt to know that I'd still have those memories if I wasn't a stupid mind reader.


	4. Repeat

I woke up without realizing I had gone to sleep in the first place. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alice and Rosalie were up, talking in hushed tones as not to wake us. They stopped when I sat up.

_Good morning Edward._

'_Morning._

I nodded my head to acknowledge them, morning grogginess still over-taking me. I only got a headache when I quickly shoved my blanket off me. It must have been _90 degrees_ already.

"Edward!" Alice said to get my attention and tossed me a small silver band; a watch. "I nicked it from one of the guards, thought you might not want to go crazy."

"Thanks." I slipped on the silver watch and looked at the time: nearly noon. So _that's_ why it was getting hotter by the second. "So, what's the plan?" I asked the girls. They exchanged a glance before looking back at me.

"There's a town some ways to the east, on the Nile. A trading post." Alice said. My thoughts went directly to her dream vision last night. "Rumor has it that there's a few asylum escapees in hiding there."

"Man! How many people escaped?" I exclaimed, quickly and harshly being shushed by Rosalie. Emmett snored loudly behind me.

"I think that there was somebody in there a group needed to get out. And to do that, they needed to make all the transportation go wrong, since it was on the same network. Some 25 of the transported got out." Alice informed me. I decided not to ask how she knew. "I think we should try to meet up with as many escapees as we can. They might have some contacts that can get us back to Europe undetected."

Seeing my reluctance to the plan, Rosalie stepped in. _They might be able to fix your memories._

And I was sold. My reluctance still stood tall, just not _as_ tall.

"Fine. We'll go." I huffed. Alice squealed before her face went blank.

After a few moments, her eyebrow furrowed, only becoming deeper each second. "Humph." She replayed the last part of her vision, the same from last night. Again, the vision-Alice murmured something to herself and everything went blank.

"It did that last night, too. Is it the end of the vision?" I asked her with the same confusion. Alice shook her head and pouted, trying again.

"What's going on?" Jasper mumbled as he sat up. He had woken up because of Alice's intense frustration. "Alice, honey, what's wrong?"

"We're meeting some other escapees today in a town. I can see us going into a structure, but then it cuts off." Alice pouted again and leaned against Jasper, who rubbed her arm soothingly.

"It's okay. We'll meet them, and everything will be okay."

We waited for Emmett to get up. In the end, and after half an hour of waiting, Rosalie pushed and shoved him until he woke. Rosalie went over the plan for him as Alice and Jasper saddled up the horses again. I felt so _helpless_.

It was decided that, with five people and only two horses, Alice and Jasper rode on one horse, Rosalie and the water on the other, and Emmett and me walking. Alice had assured us that it was only a few miles into town.

So, in 100+ degree weather… _we were hiking in the desert_.

_Edward, I'm worried._ Alice said to me through her thoughts. We were always having silent conversations, viewing most aspects of everything. Present and future. Rocks, doesn't it?

I huffed once quietly, as if to ask _why_.

_I haven't made any more progress on the vision. I can only think that somebody's power in there is to disable others'. What if they dropped off the wrong side of the helicopter?_

I clenched my jaw to keep from laughing at her joke. I took in a deep breath, lifting my shoulders like a discreet shrug.

_If there's a shield, which there probably is in that group, we don't know how powerful he is. He might just have a mental block, or physical, or—_ Alice was cut off by her horse giving an uncalled-for momentary trot. _Or a lot of things. He might be immune to you, and Jasper, and Rosalie, even._

I shifted my eyes to Emmett for a second as to ask _what about Emmett?_

_I think since Emmett deals with physical strength all the time, and its embedded into his muscles, he won't be affected by the block._

I suppressed a sigh of relief. If this group was dangerous, we'd need all the help we could get running away.

"We're almost there." Rosalie said in a bored tone, leaning onto the water jugs again. I looked up to see a sand-colored town growing more visible with every step, and the shore of a wonderful blue river. This must be the trading post Alice and Rosalie were referring to.

"I think the building's on the main street. It shouldn't be too hard to find." Alice said with determination.

_I wonder what this group is like…_ Emmett and Jasper thought simultaneously, each imaging completely opposite things.

"We're going to have to keep on our toes. Alice can see them, and that means we probably can't affect them either." I said, warning my friends. Emmett shot me a frustrated look and I rolled my eyes. "You don't count."

Emmett turned away from me again, smirking. _Ha, ha!_

I repressed a snarl.

Only half an hour later, according to my stolen watch, we arrived on the outskirts of town. The settlement was busy, hundreds of peddlers scouring the streets. Stalls on the curbs were covered with little objects and produce.

And then I spotted the building Alice had seen in her vision. I nudged her ankle, which was at my elbow's height while she was on the horse. She nodded in acknowledgment and turned the horses to a post at the mouth of a small alley. Once getting off and tying the horses' reins to the post, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett exchanged worried looks and supposed last kisses with their loved ones. I concentrated on the escapees' building, focusing on any hostile thoughts.

_They looked pretty suspicious. I should tell Izzy._ One of the seven minds in the room thought. _Or… hmm… I should wait. Izzy'll kill me if they turn out to be feds._

_When's Izzy going to move _out_? I'm _serious_! We've been in this stupid town for hours! It's not safe for us, and just because she bailed us out doesn't mean we have to take orders from her._ Another thought. So, this _Izzy_ was their leader… I wonder what he could do.

_Oh, nervous breakdown! Not again!_ A hysteric thought passed through my mind. _Head count! That'll call me down. Me, Marcus, Zafrina, Jane, Tanya, Aro, Ben, Izzy… okay, good. They're all here._

So, I got the names, except for that one person. I fished around some more.

_Alistair has to calm down. Can't he just relax for a bit?_ Someone's bored thoughts gave me what I was looking for. Satisfied, I went back to my family.

"What news?" Jasper asked. I could read his strategizing thoughts starting in his head.

"There are seven of them." I began, trying to ignore the look of triumph on Emmett's face, who was looking for a good fight, and dread on everyone else's. "Five boys and three girls."

Alice cocked her head in confusion. "Didn't you say there were only seven of them?"

"Yes. Three girls; Zafrina, Jane and Tanya, and five…" I trailed off. Three and five did not make seven. So, one of them was a block.

"Ugh!" Alice and Rosalie groaned in unison. Emmett snickered at them, shoving it in our faces that he still had his strength. But seriously, who'd want to be the hulk when they could read minds?

"The five men are Alistair, Marcus, Ben, and Izzy. Izzy's the leader. He bailed them all out." I continued, a bit anxious about meeting this group. Was their leader the block? Their leader was probably a block. Why did their _leader_ have to be the block? Then again, that's was probably _why_ Izzy was the leader.

"Well, no use in waiting. Maybe Izzy can be negotiated with." I could hear the hopeful doubt in Emmett's voice.

"I think I'll still be able to affect Izzy. I deal with the body's physical changes, not mental." Jasper said proudly, smirking at Emmett.

As a group, we wove across the street to the building entrance.

"This is it." Alice murmured to herself, before clutching Jasper's hand tightly in her own and pushing aside the cloth covering the door to set inside.

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated. My laptop, which I'm writing the chapters on this half of the week, won't let me log onto Fan Fiction or send e-mails. So, that's my reason.**

**No worries,  
Kylie**

**P.S. I forgot to put the disclaimer on each of the documents. So, here it is: I don't own _Twilight_, only the idea.**


	5. Relinquish

I watched in rising horror as Rosalie and Emmett stepped in after them, and then full-blown terror when I realized I had to go in. Taking one last breath I followed.

_Oh my god. He's gorgeous! _was the _first_ thought in my mind. I looked around to see a woman with long strawberry blonde hair going down to her hair staring at me with an amazed expression. Her thoughts immediately were rated R and I shied away from them with disgust.

_Edward, you're posing as our leader._ Alice contacted me with her thoughts._ I've already talked to the rest about this. You have nothing to lose, right?_

Well, I supposed not. I gave an inconspicuous look-over of the room and back, which answered Alice with a no. Her eyes were grateful.

_That's them. I really should tell Izzy. _The words drifted through my mind just a second before a teenage boy, with dark skin that looked Egyptian and black hair, stood up slowly and cautiously turned his back to us to disappear into a back room. I couldn't concentrate on his thoughts, though, since the perverted strawberry blonde approached us. I stepped out in front of my friends.

"Hey there, soldier." She purred seductively. I clenched my jaw to keep from gagging. "I'm Tanya. Need anything?"

I didn't fail to spot the double meaning. It took all my will power to keep cringing at the horrific thoughts running through her head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper silently chuckling at my disgust.

"I'm actually looking for Izzy." I forced out between my teeth.

Tanya's infatuated eyes cleared immediately and glared at me.

_Talk about a mood swing!_ Jasper laughed out loud in his head.

"Right this way." She said quietly with malice. But, before I had even lifted my foot, it was frozen in place and slightly compressed. When I looked down, confusion emanating from me, I saw my legs in a bluish tint.

"Tanya!" A female voice quickly hissed from across the room. If not for the obvious anger in her voice, it might have… no not _might have_— _would_ have been the most beautiful voice that put angels to shame. "Get away from them!"

After an angry huff that signified she was not moving, Tanya fell backwards. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"Yeah, but he's probably not." The teenager that had gone to get Izzy returned, chuckling at my disgusted expression. He and Jasper would be getting along great. _Poor sucker. Tanya's never going to stop flirting._ I tried to contain my terror. _Why did Izzy have to bust her out too?_

"Izzy, they were looking for you." Tanya said like the pissed off teenager she was. So, I'd finally get to meet the infamous Izzy.

"Yeah, I know. Ben just told me." The angel's voice said again, clearly female. I tensed. Why did the leader have to be a girl? I looked up and nearly gasped. Why did the leader have to be a _gorgeous angel_?

The girl, Izzy, appeared to be no more than 17 years old, one year _younger_ than me, though she spoke with the maturity of a middle-aged business man. She had long, straight, brown hair that hung very nearly to her waist, making it look like she was standing in front of a sequoia tree. Her almond-shaped, chocolate brown eyes burned fiercely, like they were looking straight into my soul. But they were pissed. She had unusually pale skin and full, red lips that seemed to mercilessly attract my attention.

"Who are you, how did you find us, and why are you here?" Izzy asked all in one breath. I hesitated to respond, her beauty was toxic. Out of habit, I reached out in search of her thoughts, trying to find out what she wanted to hear, and then got frustrated as I heard nothing from her. Damn shields.

I took a deep breath to collect my thoughts before speaking. "I'm Edward Masen, and these are Mary Alice Brandon," I caught Alice's glare, "who prefers to be called Alice, my cousins and adoptive brothers Jasper and Emmett, and Rosalie Hale.

"First of all, we are escapees from that asylum, like you. We each have powers." I paused for a moment, wondering whether or not I could trust this group with this sort of information, but Alice pleaded to me that everything would be alright. "Rosalie has persuasive powers," I nearly chuckled at Tanya's jealous thoughts, "Emmett has super-human strength, Jasper can pick up and control emotions, and Empath, if you will, and Alice can see glimpses of the future."

"And what can you do?" Izzy asked, her beautiful eyes narrowing into slits.

"I can read minds." Tanya paled and blushed simultaneously. "But apparently it doesn't work on shields." I added, staring purposefully at a satisfied Izzy.

Izzy looked at me skeptically for a few seconds before smiling. "Well, then. Welcome to our temporary accommodations."

My mind shut down completely; only working for the sole purpose of hearing her voice. The words barely made sense to me in this state.

"My name is Isabella, but most people call me Izzy."

"I can tell."

Izzy rolled her eyes. "Bella's okay, too, from the right people.

"This is Ben," She pointed to the teenager beside her, "And you've already met Tanya."

"That's only three. There are eight in your group." Rosalie said from Emmett's side. I almost wanted to hit her for being rude to Izzy, or Bella. I liked Bella better.

Izzy-Bella sighed in defeat, her eyes flickering between Alice and me. "In the back are the rest. You can come and meet them if you like."

Izzy-Bella looked pointedly at me while I consulted my friends' thoughts.

_Go ahead, Edward. I want them to trust us, and Isabella is trusting us enough to introduce us to her group. We should take the chances we get._ Alice.

_I'll choose whatever Alice does._ Jasper thought, looking at Alice with unrivaled love and affection.

_Meh, what the heck. I can just punch our way out of here if we need._ Emmett, who else?

_No, Edward. NO! I don't trust this girl. She seems much too confident for what she is. She must have an ulterior motive to all this— maybe she's actually working with the feds! She could be part of the asylum staff, Edward, and we won't know that until it's too late!_

I ignored Rosalie after the 'I don't trust her' line. Bella was trustworthy; I could feel it in my bones and be sure she would never lie to us.

"Lead the way." I finalized politely. Bella nodded her head in acknowledgement and gestured for us to follow her into the back room, Ben and Tanya following behind us.

The back room looked much like a lounge. A few small couches lined the adobe walls, a few chairs and armchairs here and there. There was a large, brittle-looking table in the center of the room, surrounded by eight chairs. The remaining five people were in here.

A tall south American-looking woman lounged on a couch, taking up the entire piece of furniture, running her hands across a piece of cloth, marveling at its texture, though I only knew the latter from her thoughts. It was like she hadn't felt anything like it in a long time. Silk, I think she called it. I honestly had no idea; I'd never heard of it, only from Alice, and she didn't really explain it to me.

A small, angelic girl was playing chess with a much older, but rather bored, man in one corner, both looking strained from the game. I chuckled inwardly, thinking of the matches between Alice and me.

In the far corner was a paranoid-looking man, his eyes darting suspiciously around the room. That one must be Alistair.

Closest to the door, however was a bright man, who looked in his late twenties or so, had papery white skin and hair to match, and a somewhat creepy smile when looking at us.

"My, my!" He started off in a 'too cheery' tone. "New arrivals! Who might you be?"

He stuck out his hand, but Bella pushed it gently back into his stomach before I could shake it.

"Aro, his mind is his own. He doesn't need any intruders, especially since they aren't part of this yet." Bella scolded him in a hushed tone, almost so low that I couldn't hear it.

And that's when everybody looked up. I promptly stared at the ground; I usually shied away from attention.

"So, have a seat, get comfortable!" Bella said warmly, sitting down in an armchair and crossing her legs, her perfect legs. It might have been my imagination, but I thought I heard Jasper snicker again behind me. "Tell us about yourselves."

**A/N: I'm not going to explain all of their stories, Rose's is pretty hard to come up with, but yeah. Only Alice's will come up, and it's pretty much the same as in the _Twilight_ books, only she's not a vampire.**

**No worries,  
Kylie**


	6. Retell

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just the idea.**

I was about to speak when Alice piped up, making Jasper's eyes widen and his thoughts immediately become protective of pixie-like girlfriend.

"Me first!" She squeaked, smiling widely at Bella, who laughed and visibly relaxed. My head cleared and filled with Bella's musical laughter. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.

_Edward! We need to stay with them!_ Alice's thoughts screamed in my head.

"So, I was living with my parents when I started to have visions." Alice began. I could faintly hear the interested thoughts coming from the Bella's group, but I leaned back and closed my eyes. This was definitely not the first time I'd heard this story. "After a while, my parents admitted me to an asylum.

"I was there for a while before these men came and took me away. I've been in the asylum ever since." Alice finished, a bit sad, but ecstatic to be able to talk about it. Bella gave her an apologetic smile.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered in a sad voice that made my heart break.

"It's nothing. I met Jasper there." Alice said happily and nestled into Jasper's side as he put his arm around her.

"I take it these are not your contacts." A woman's deep voice said accusingly. The South American woman got up from her perch on the couch and sat in the chair next to Bella, pursing her lips as she looked us over. _Certainly not. They look like they just came out of the desert!_

"No." Bella said simply, in a tone that closed the topic. The woman nodded once. "But they are escapees from the asylum. They may be able to help us."

"Well, then, I am Zafrina." The woman said, holding out her long hand. I shook it hesitantly. Alice and everyone owed me for posing as the leader for this. But, then again, who was but me? Considering everything… I was practically the leader. I groaned internally at the thought.

"Edward. Nice to meet you." I said as I pulled away, settling back on the chair.

_Hmm… I wonder what he can do…?_

"I can read minds." I smirked at Zafrina's widened eyes. "Though I try to repress it whenever I can."

"I take it you are the, um, leader?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded after reassuring thoughts and nods from my friends.

Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper, in that order, went on to tell their stories of how they landed in the asylum. Rosalie for being caught in restricted government areas, Emmett for protecting him and Jasper when the asylum found out about Jasper, and Jasper for manipulating the emotions of a school fight.

By the time they had finished, the rest of Bella's group had joined us. Each were looking at us expectantly. Well, more precisely, at _me_. I realized that I was the only one not to say anything.

"Are you going to say anything, Edward?" Bella asked in a strangely curious voice, implying a more in-depth explanation, unlike how she had asked questions with the others. My heart fluttered for a second.

I sort of cringed into the back of my chair a bit. My past… um… pass?

"Um…" I shot Alice a distressed look, while merely shrugged and smiled at me. "I can't really remember anything other than the asylum."

Bella cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"He can't remember because they wiped his memory." Jasper said softly. He ignored Bella's expression, one of frozen shock, and continued. "A few days after Emmett and I got admitted into the asylum, they eased it out of our parents that Edward could read minds.

"We went to sleep one night, thinking that he would be coming to visit us in the morning, as our mom had said. When we woke up, Edward was sleeping on a bed that had been placed there during the night. When he gained consciousness again, we realized that he had no idea who we were. Apparently, the doctors in our building had done a few…" Jasper looked at me for a second, his thoughts apologetic and pained. "Tests. They altered his brain tissue and somehow wiped his memory clean. But only his memory. They avoided anything that had to do with simply knowledge and facts. And habits."

_Poor thing. If only I could see for myself!_ Hyperactive thoughts pierced through the sad ones. Aro, was he called?

"Funny." I would have glared if it wasn't Bella who said that in a humorless voice. "I thought I was the only one."

I gaped at her, my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open slightly.

"Well, at least you woke up to actual human beings. I woke up in the operation room, surrounded by knives covered in my own blood." Bella said with fake enthusiasm and shivered. I had to grip the sofa cushions with all my might to keep from embracing her. How could someone go through that and still be sane?

"I'm a shield, so it makes sense that I'm immune to many things." Bella started, her eyes looking at each one of us in turn. She looked at me last and longest. "Sicknesses, germs, bacteria, everything. Unfortunately, that includes medicines. Morphine, sedations, the works. I woke up in the middle of my operation, not knowing anything but to talk and breathe. It was seven years ago."

"That was the same time they wiped mine." I said. Bella nodded.

"I learned later that the asylum staff were trying to eliminate the human emotion in someone's mind. And, apparently, if that meant wiping their memory clean, they had no problem with it." Bella said, a bit angry. "I escaped a few days after I found this out, and ended up in the middle of Chicago, where I ran into this couple, Carlisle and Esme Cullen."

_Mom? Dad?_ Emmett was thinking, wide-eyed. Jasper's thought were along the same lines. I knew I should probably be shocked, but theoretically thinking, I didn't know my adoptive parents at all.

Not sensing Emmett and Jasper's amazement, Bella continued. "They found me lying on the street, exhausted and broken, and they put me back together. We helped each other. They were going through the loss of their three sons, who all disappeared, one right after the other."

I could feel the waves of emotional pain Jasper tried to cover up.

"They've been my contacts ever since. Carlisle became a doctor for the asylum, and grew very influential in a very short amount of time. He convinced the manager that there was no use in brainwashing hundreds of teens, thankfully before the manager went to all the branches with it.

"For a while now, we've been working on this plan that was put into action yesterday." Bella took out an iPhone and turned it on to reveal a sort of complicated blueprint on mechanical wiring. "We planned the electricity failure for the transportation units. We rearranged the guards so then the ones escorting the patients would be incredibly selfish. That's why they threw you out of the copter."

There were a few moments of silence before Bella's iPhone rang. I jumped, amazed that it could get a signal all the way out here.

She stood up, smiling at me apologetically for the interruption and began to talk. We all watched her, including her own group.

"Carlisle. I'm glad you got out of there." Bella smiled at nothing and turned away from us, going outside into the other room. But through the paper-thin walls, we could still hear.

"Yeah. I managed to get seven of them out, and another five found us. You might have to tow another car over, since the van only holds thirteen." There was a pause. "Seriously? Well, then, we'll see you in a bit."

There was a small snap and Bella came back into the room, positively beaming like she had just been accepted in heaven.

"Carlisle and Esme are almost here. We're meeting them on the other side of the river."


	7. Relearning

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just the idea.**

It was a few minutes before Bella said we'd leave, and I was taking that time to… _discuss_ some things within my group.

"Edward, we have to go with them!" Emmett exclaimed like a little kid. "They know Mom and Dad!" _Please, Edward, I haven't seen them ever since we got snatched._

"I'm not so sure." Jasper contradicted. "I couldn't get an emotion out of her. She may just be really good at hiding her feelings. She could have been lying for all we know."

"I agree with Jasper." Rosalie huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "She can't be trusted."

"But _Mom_ and _Dad_, Jasper!" Emmett pleaded.

_Edward, as a leader, its your responsibility to make decisions that benefit the entire group._ I picked up Alice's reassuring, yet dreadful, thoughts. _I had a vision of a blonde man and a brunette woman. _She brought up an image, one that looked a lot like the Carlisle and Esme from my brothers' memories. _Bella's a good person. I know she's been through a lot more than she's told us, but that's made her strong and trustworthy._

"We're going." I said simply, my mind made up. All arguing immediately stopped as four pairs of eyes stared at me. "I trust Bella. Besides, how else could she have known Carlisle and Esme? Surely she didn't make those names up on the spot."

Emmett, Alice, and Jasper nodded encouragingly, however small and skeptic Jasper's might have been, while Rosalie fumed slightly.

There was a knock on the door and the teenager, Ben, came in a bit hesitantly.

"Izzy said Carlisle just pulled up. We have to go now." He said in a small voice, but it was honest at least.

"Thank you, Ben." I said politely and stood up, my friends following a moment later.

We followed Ben out in the street, where the rest of his group and Bella were waiting. Upon seeing us, Bella smiled warmly and began walking to the river, where a bridge was set up going across it.

_Izzy's going to die!_ Someone thought furiously. _Stealing Edward! He would have been mine if _she_ hadn't interrupted!_ I relaxed, knowing Tanya wasn't being serious.

_Eek!!_ Alice thought happily. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her beaming and clapping quietly._ Edward, Edward, Edward!!_

She brought up a vision of two people kissing; Bella and me.

I collapsed.

_Edward!_ It was like a ghostly wail, fading into the normal buzz of my thoughts.

_Wake up._ I pulled enough energy to groan and roll over.

_Dude, you're making idiot of yourself in front of Bella._

I shot up to a sit, Jasper laughing somewhere in front of me.

"What did you do?" Bella whispered to him, amused and giggling slightly. Jasper shook his head and quieted his laughing.

I groaned and laid back down, putting my arms over my eyes to shield them from the desert sun.

"Edward, you need to get up." Bella told me, but her words had the opposite effect. Her saying my name made me melt with satisfaction.

_Is that Emmett? My god he's grown! And Jasper! Oh, my baby!_ Feminine thoughts penetrated my lazy brain. I didn't even care to find out who they were.

"Edward?" A male voice asked. It was deep and probably around forty years old.

"No, Dad, don't!" Emmett warned, but apparently it was ignored. A few seconds later, I was tugged up and hugged tightly by a blonde man, some three inches shorter than me.

"Uh, hi." I cautioned, carefully peeling the man off me. Once I got a good look at his confused and puzzled face, I realized who this was. Carlisle. The one man I was supposed to know and love and I had no recollection of him.

"Edward, dear!" A woman with caramel-colored hair ran up to me with another hug, but I shied away. This must be Esme.

_Dude, give it a rest. Just let them hug you._ Jasper told me furiously in his head. He was getting agitated at the confusion emanating from his parents and me. I shook my head at him.

"Edward, dear, it's us! Esme and Carlisle!" Esme pleaded. Jasper pulled her and Carlisle gently away by the shoulders.

"Mom, come on. There's something we need to tell you." I could barely hear Emmett say.

"Edward, come on." Bella said cautiously, taking my arm and pulling me away. For a second I completely forgot about Carlisle and Esme and got lost in Bella's eyes. "We'll take the second car." She finished a bit breathlessly. I was probably just imagining it.

_Of course. How did I _know_ she was going to do that?_ Sneering thoughts, jabbing at my head. _Of course Izzy takes Edward. Of course! It's so obvious she likes him. Well, as soon as we're alone, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind!_

I bit my tongue to keep me conscious, though it wasn't nearly as shocking as Alice's visions of Bella and me kissing. My bones melted even at the _thought_ of it.

Bella pulled me through the town and across the bridge by my arm. We finally stopped in front of a shiny silver car. It looked similar to a picture of a Volvo Emmett and Jasper had showed me once. And from that day on, I had always wanted to drive.

"Do you want to drive, or should I?" Bella asked pointedly, leaning against the car door. My face broke into a mischievous smile as I eyed the driver's seat. Bella rolled her eyes and got in the passenger's side, and my face went blank again. I didn't know how to drive… _but_… what better place to learn than the middle of the desert? I hesitantly got into the seat and put my hands on the wheel.

"Um…" Bella started. She looked at a belt hanging from the ceiling of the car and dangling on the left side of my seat. "Seat belt?"

My face went blank again.

"You've never set foot in a car, have you?" Bella giggled, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Hey, I just gained my freedom less than three days ago." I defended myself weakly. "I don't think that's enough time to learn how to drive."

"We'll…" Bella debated with herself, clearly written on her face. "This as good as a time as any to learn."

I sighed in relief..

"Okay, see that key in the slot?" Bella pointed to the keys near the steering wheel and I nodded. "Turn them as far as you can, as fast as you can, away from you."

I did as she said, trusting her every bit of the way, and the car scared me by roaring to life. I hadn't heard anything so loud since I had walked past the doctors' operation room in asylum. I shivered slightly.

"Now, you see those two pedals?" Bella then pointed near my feet, to two little rectangles on the ground. "The one on the left is the brake, it stops you, and the one on the right is the gas."

Gas, gas… Emmett said something about the gas giving you speed. I nodded.

"I think I got it from here." I smiled at Bella and turned my attention back to the road in front of me. My right foot located the gas pedal and I lightly stepped on it. The car jolted forward roughly, but then leveled out at a ridiculously slow pace. We were never going to get anywhere with this!

So I floored it.

**A/N: I can't tell you how much fun it's going to be to teach Edward how to drive a vehical he's never set foot in. Now you get to see how I think Edward got to be a fast driver!**


	8. Chase

**JPOV**

I guiltily dragged by parents away from Edward, who was now talking to Bella. Confusion and guilt and regret were coming off him like wave surges, each one hitting me like a brand-new storm front.

"Jasper, dear, what's wrong?" My mother asked me tenderly. She stole a glance back at Edward before looking at me again.

"I'm sorry, Mom." I stopped and hugged her tightly. "I didn't tell you about Edward. I didn't know he would react like that."

"There, there." Mom patted my back gently. "But what's wrong with him? It was like he didn't know us at all!"

Emmett coughed nervously. I would know.

"Um…" I began, not sure how to say that their adoptive son had lost his memory, and therefore had no recollection of anything before he was 7 years old.

I hadn't realized my dear Alice was walking behind us until she burst into laughter, rolling on the floor in milliseconds with the ferocity of her humor. I soon joined her due to the overwhelming and unexpected emotion, even for Alice.

"What's wrong?" I heard Emmett and Carlisle ask at the same time. I couldn't answer through my breathless giggles.

"Bella…" Alice laughed. "Is teaching Edward… how to drive!"

At this I laughed even more. I couldn't even tell the emotions of the people around me, nor could I hear their whispers and voices.

But, what I could hear was the sound of a car speeding dangerously close to us at an incredibly high speed.

**BPOV**

Apparently Carlisle forgot to mention how fast this car went. Cough, _200 mph!_ And, apparently, he _also_ forgot to mention it had Nitrox infusions. So, bump that to _250 mph_.

Add a guy that's never driven before, or even set foot in a car, and you'd be very grateful for shield.

Edward, laughing like a maniac, sped over a dune, making the car fly fifty feet up into the air, and he didn't notice we were on a crash course for the next hill. He had _long_ abandoned the road.

"Edward!" I screamed, creating a shield around the car just as it touched down on the sand again. Still laughing like a little kid, Edward slammed his foot on the brake, nearly making me go through the windshield.

It was silent for a few seconds as Edward and I gasped for breath, me frightened, Edward grinning maniacally. He was insane, wasn't he?

**EPOV**

That had to be the most exhilarating, best, most _fun_ thing I had ever endured. I chuckled quietly, and then looked to Bella and laughed. She was clutching the sides of her seat for dear life.

"You're insane, aren't you?" She muttered, still looking straight ahead.

"Oh, come on. That was fun and you know it." I scoffed, smirking.

Bella glared out the window of the unmoving car and into the vast desert. Slowly, she flipped a switch on a panel next to me and cold air began blowing at us.

"Here, let's switch." Bella said, taking off her seatbelt, as I did. Just as she was about to reach for the door handle, I put my hands on either side of her small waist and lifted her into the driver's seat while I slid into the passenger's under her. When I glanced, Bella was looking in front of her with her mouth slightly open, disbelief and something else coloring her eyes.

"Are you going to drive?" I asked nervously. Had I done something wrong?

Bella looked at me and blushed a beautiful crimson that contrasted on her pale skin like roses on cream. She turned away and carefully grasped the wheel.

"Okay, Driving 101." She started, glancing at me again, the ghost of a blush on her cheeks. "Obey the speed limit." I nodded, not really sure what that was. "Don't floor it." She laughed musically when I groaned and rolled my eyes. "And please, _please_, try not to kill us."

It took an hour for her to point out all of the essential parts of the car. Bella explained what traffic lights were and what signs meant what. Most of them were useless precautions, but I must say that the air conditioning was a blessing in this heat.

"Now, we have to figure out where we are, thanks to _somebody_." Bella glared at me, jokingly as its intensions were. "It's a good thing Carlisle gave me a satellite phone."

"What's—"

"A satellite phone is a phone that doesn't depend on phone lines, but on a satellite in space." When she looked at me, it became clear to her that I had no idea what a satellite was. "A satellite is a machine orbiting the Earth that relays pictures or sound waves to different parts of the world."

I nodded, though the subject was still fuzzy.

Bella reached into her pocket and pulled out a bulky silver phone, much different from her iPhone. It must be the satellite one.

"According to this, we're still about 200 miles from the next town." I took a peak over her shoulder to see a map of the Nile on the phone's large screen. "If we drive quickly," Bella ignored my smirk, "we might be able to get there before sunset. There, we could wait for the van to catch up."

"Can I drive?" I asked hopefully. Bella sighed.

"Do you know where the lights are?"

I nodded.

"Ignition?"

I nodded.

"Speed?"

A smile touched my lips as I nodded again.

"Brakes?" Bella looked at me skeptically as I bobbed my head. Oh, she looked so cute when she did that. "Are you going to use the brakes?"

"I might." I answered truthfully.

Bella was silent for a few seconds before leaning in slightly. She smirked. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes." I said.

"I mean," Bella leaned closer still, "do you _really_ mean that?"

I hesitated this time. "Y-yes."

Bella leaned so close to me that we were nearly touching noses and asked again, her breath on my face and her eyes dancing with amusement and that same, unidentifiable emotion. All I could do was nod slowly.

I wanted nothing more than to bridge the gap between us and kiss her.

_Hmm… tire tracks…_

I was momentarily taken aback by hearing someone's thoughts. I had been with Bella for a while, at least long enough to make me used to not hearing anyone.

_They must be close._

The thoughts were getting louder, but all I could really think about was the fact that both Bella and I were leaning in agonizingly slowly.

_Bingo._

Right as our lips touched a bull shot through the window.

**A/N: Sorry for the multiple POVs in this one; I knew I had to do Jasper's because of Alice's vision, and I absolutely had to have Bella's comment on Edward's driving lessons. By the way, how fast can the new 2009 Volvo S80 T6 AWD go? I need to know if I was thoeretically correct on the car's speed. And, now that we're on the subject of cars, what do all the abbreviations on the name stand for? I mean, I know the year, the company, but what about S80, T6, and AWD? Do they just put that there to make it sound cool? Anyway, thanks for reading! Oh, and I'm in the process of fixing my laptop, so I can upload straight from there instead of having to transport the files all the way over to my Dad's compuet to update.**

**No worries!  
Kylie M.**

**And yeah, I know the name of the chapter doesn't fit with the others, but this is the beginning of a new part.**


	9. Standoff

I turned slightly towards the bullet coming through the windshield, only to have it nestle in my left shoulder blade, right behind my heart.

"Edward!" Bella screamed. I could hear three more gunshots, but it sounded as though they were hitting a diamond wall. I tried to look up and see our savior but I was too blinded by the pain.

_Damn it! That shield's here!_

I gritted my teeth in the pain and nearly didn't hear the car's engine roaring to life again, though it sounded nearly fifteen times as loud.

"Edward, hold on!" Bella said worriedly and I felt wind across my screaming back. Each pulse of my heart sent new bolts of pain down my spine and up my neck, paralyzing me in my keeled over position, whimpering pathetically.

Bella must have stopped eventually, though I couldn't tell you how long she drove. The seconds of agony melted together to create an impenetrable barrier between me and time.

"Oh, Edward…" Bella cried. "Hold still. I'll get the bullet out."

I was about to protest, but I suddenly couldn't move.

"I'm so sorry, Edward." Bella whispered over my small cries. "I should've kept moving. I should've let you keep driving. I shouldn't have distracted us like that. I shouldn't—"

"Bella!" I scolded quietly, though it sounded more like an indignant grunt.

"Sorry." Cold, clammy hands gripped my shoulder lightly. "So sorry."

My wound became inexplicably cold, and soon numb. I could feel movement in my shoulder, though strangely it didn't hurt. It was like there was some weird worm-thing moving just under my skin.

Everything lost its reddish tint as I calmed slowly. I still couldn't feel that shoulder, but I didn't dare try to. Anything was better than feeling a bullet an inch from your heart.

"Edward, are you alright?" Bella whispered worriedly. I could hear her gulp. "Edward?"

"I can't feel my shoulder." I breathed. I lifted my other hand to actually make sure Bella hadn't amputated it, but she stopped me.

"Edward, my shields are very cold. It's numbing you. Just don't move. I'm getting you out."

I could hear a car door open and footsteps across sand. Then my door opened, letting in a rush of cold air.

"Edward, come on. Unlike your monster brother, I can't lift you by myself." Bella said with a small attempt at a laugh. It came out as more of a huff.

"Where are we?" I asked, with a bit more strength now. I grabbed the hand Bella offered me and hauled myself up to a painful stand. I tried not to move my left shoulder. I looked around and saw the desert sunset just disappearing over the horizon, casting a fiery glow on a small cluster of adobe buildings, much like the town I had found Bella in.

"This is as far as we're going today." Bella said, closing the car door while supporting a considerable portion of my weight. "I called Carlisle and he's meeting us here in a few minutes to patch you up."

"It doesn't hurt nearly as much now. What did you do?"

"I numbed your shoulder and then took the bullet out." Bella said simply, but I could see the nauseous worry in her eyes. "There's a very unhealthy-looking scab there that I thought Carlisle might want to take a look at. Make sure it didn't internally damage you."

_Helicopter or not, these two are a pain in the ass._

I inhaled sharply and staggered at the thoughts. They were from the same person that found us earlier.

"Edward?"

"Bella, make a shield around us and the car." I said quickly, trying to hear the quiet hum of the copter. "They've found us again."

Bella's eyes snapped to mine.

"_Again?_" She asked. I nodded.

"They were the ones who shot at us earlier." I glanced anxiously at the sky, waiting for the helicopter to appear on the horizon. Any second now, they would come and try to do away with us again.

"Edward, if I make a shield around us, I can't numb your shoulder any more!" Bella said strictly.

"That's fine. I can always just lean up against it." I countered with a wave of my hand. Bella looked at me in skeptic disbelief before concentrating. The air instantly got colder as I no longer felt the setting sun's warmth.

"Could you see if they've found Carlisle and the others, or if they're just concentrating on finding us?" Bella asked, closing her eyes and sitting on the hood of the car. I nodded, and began concentrating on our tracker's thoughts.

_Finally._ The person thought. At that moment, I could see a helicopter coming steadily towards us. _Why aren't they running? Are they trying to make a heroic last stand? Oh, cliché to the max._

"They've seen us." I informed Bella. She nodded quickly.

_Well, they've spotted us. I know that much. That boy is looking straight at me. Didn't I shot him? Ah, the blood stains. Wow. I got pretty good aim!_

I let a small but ferocious snarl escape my lips.

_Oh, he's pissed. This is going to be fun._

The helicopter was almost hovering above us when it touched down just a few yards from me, though I couldn't feel the wind from its rotor blades. Well, at least I learned one thing from the movies Emmett smuggled into the asylum.

_Why aren't they moving?_

Three people jumped out of the helicopter with very expensive and deadly looking guns, all crouched and ready to fire. One more person got out, a very plain man, probably an inch or so shorter than me, with very dirty brown hair. Clean, it might have been alight brown. He was smirking, showing off his teeth maliciously.

"Surrender now, and we'll hold fire." He said loudly, though his voice was dimmed considerably, thanks to Bella's shield. "You can come quietly and peacefully back to the asylum."

"I'd rather not." I answered shortly. The man looked passed me to Bella, and his eyes widened and narrowed.

_Why are all the hot girls fugitives?_

My hands balled up into fists and I growled. How _dare_ he think of Bella like that!

_Ha, this guy's funny. No wonder they want him back at the asylum. Entertainment for _life_._

"You don't understand. I didn't mean to imply that you had a choice." The man said with fake pleasantries.

"That's something we have in common, then." I shot back. The man glared at me and held up his hand. Oh, I recognized this. He was using it as a signal for 'ready, aim, fire'. He brought his hand down swiftly, grinning madly, until, once again, the bullets were deflected by Bella's shield.

I looked back to see how Bella was holding up, and she laughed, at which point I almost melted with satisfaction upon hearing the angel's song.

_Ha, ha, they think they're safe. I bet that shield's only got a wall between them and James._ I heard thoughts behind us, and looked past Bella to see a redhead leaping like a pissed-off cat towards Bella.

**A/N: Yeah... guess who the redhead is! (Note the sarcasm) Um, I guess I'm going to have to put Laurent in here, too, right? I think I will. Partner in crime, that sort of thing. Yeah... I guess that's it for this note!**

**No worries!  
Kylie M.**

**P.S. Sorry for not putting the disclaimer on this story, I think they're considerably boring!**


	10. Patience

"Bella!" I shouted, turning to run at her in attempt to get her out of the path of the rogue redhead. She cocked her head in what seemed like slow motion, before glancing over her shoulder at the redhead and laughing. In that moment, I was pretty much convinced she had gone insane, but that was before the redhead smashed into an invisible wall. Then it was actually quite comical.

I sounded like a squealing pig in attempt to cover up my snigger, all in vain. Bella laughed harder upon seeing me.

"Victoria!" The man yelled, obviously concerned with the redhead. The woman stood up and began attacking the wall again.

"Don't worry, Edward." Bella said with a smile, walking up and taking my hand in her small one. "My shields can come in domes too."

I didn't realize I needed air until she soothed me. I inhaled deeply to replenish the oxygen in my system.

"So, what now? Are we just going to wait until they get bored?" I asked, eyeing the furious soldiers and the man, James, I think the redhead called him, in an enraged state.

"Well, if I call Carlisle, we can meet up in Cairo in a week, which gives us plenty of time to drop these guys." Bella offered in a nearly inaudible whisper, gesturing at the soldiers without looking at them.

"Can you get a signal from in here?" I asked as Bella took out her satellite phone.

"Well, let's find out." Bella concluded and began dialing.

"Hey!" Outside the shield, James waved his arms in the air like a maniac who had never heard of dignity. "We'll stay here all night if we have to!"

"Good luck with that!" I challenged back, faking a bow and going back to a smiling angel.

"Carlisle said it was fine, and to make sure that they're completely off our tail before going to the rendezvous point."

I nodded. "So, what's the plan?"

Bella bit her lip and sat back down on the hood of the car. He brow furrowed into an adorable line. "Hmm… I wonder when they're going to realize I don't have the shield up anymore." She whispered. If I had been a foot more from her, I wouldn't have known she had said anything. I clenched my jaw and bit the insides of my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "If they attack, well… thank god I have good reflexes."

"I'll keep tabs on their thoughts, just in case." I said and sat down next to Bella. So much had happened in the past week.

Tuesday: Coming out of 'surgery' again, this time for physical modifications. The operation was apparently unsuccessful. Thankfully, they hadn't tried it on Jasper and Emmett, probably afraid that a strong emotion would set me off. I was a ticking time bomb to them.

Wednesday: I was transported to an aircraft, blindfolded and unconscious, and woke up in a cell with constant noise and turbulence. Jasper and Emmett were with me and said we were on a plane. I had been instantly excited, though my adoptive brothers did not share my enthusiasm.

Thursday: We had arrived to where ever our destination was, and were blindfolded and unconscious once again, waking up in another cell. A doctor we had never seen before spoke with an accent, but I understood enough of it to know we were being transported somewhere else to be in a special unit for some war.

Friday: Unfamiliar doctors did one last cruel 'check-up' to make sure we (mainly I) were stable. They bound us up (Emmett in thick steel cord compared to Jasper in rope and me in synthetic cord) and practically shoved us into the helicopter. An hour later, I saw the sun, low on the horizon, for the first time.

Saturday: Our guards received a malfunction in the rotor blades of the aircraft, decreasing the strength of them, and concluded quickly that they needed to drop some of the weight. They opened the doors and pushed us three out. The drop seemed like a few hundred feet, but I knew that none of us would survive that kind of fall. It was the first time I actually hated warmth and heat.

Sunday (Yesterday): Alice and Rosalie found us after a few hours in the desert.

Today: I traveled 10+ miles, walking beside a horse, into a small town, only to meet the most gorgeous angel on Earth, meet my parents (who I don't remember) and learn to drive, during which I got shot in the shoulder, having the bullet go nearly into my heart, and now I'm sitting on a car hood, with _said angel_, contemplating how to escape the guy who shot me!

I hope that not everybody's life is this interesting.

I don't know how long we sat there, just that it was a very long time, and the man never moved, unlike his soldiers. The redhead, Victoria, had gone to his side, waiting impatiently and constantly twitching. After some time, the moon set and the sun rose, casting a grey sheen to the air and landscape. Only then did one of them move.

"Maybe we can talk this out!" James said with such sudden volume and enthusiasm that Bella and I both flinched back. _Maybe if I just talk to them, they'll have no problem coming with me. Oh glorious! My Victoria's here! Maybe she can help… _convince_ the young man. It seems as if the girl will go anywhere he does!_

I let out an exasperated sigh, shaking my cocked head at James. His thoughts had the same… perky… happy-go-lucky aura as Aro, though multiplied to the infinite degree.

The soldiers around James groaned.

_Thank god he only has to sleep five hours a day._ One of the soldiers thought, and threw down his gun before falling backwards into the helicopter. The others soon followed suit, thinking just about the same thing. What did they mean by sleeping…?

"If you come with us right now, we won't have to shoot you!" James insisted, a large, oblivious, and immensely creepy smile on his face. He took a step forward, but ran into a wall. Bella must have put a shield back up. But that didn't alter James' course. He kept walking at the shield and bouncing back. James didn't even notice the large red lump growing on his forehead.

"James!" Victoria said sharply, and pulled him back to her side.

I grabbed Bella's hand, opened the passenger seat car door, buckled her, and was in the driver's seat starting the car before she could even react.

After a few seconds of staring at me with an unfathomable expression, Bella spoke.

"Holy _sh_—"

And she was cut off by a gun being fired. I swiftly turned my head to see the bullet spiraling through the air with unnaturally slow speed for the type of gun that fired it. Whe it got close to Bella's head, I carefully swatted it away. I followed its altered path and watched Bella's window smash into a million little pieces.

In slow motion.

What was going on here?

Time returned to normal speed, and suddenly Bella was telling me, quite loudly, to go.

"Edward, _floor it!_" She screamed as Victoria began stalking sideways towards the car— on Bella's side. I slammed my foot down on the gas pedal and we instantly went from 0 to 250 mph in less than 20 seconds.

I let out a sigh of relief before I saw a fiery red mane in Bella's mirror.

**A/N: I didn't want another chapter to end in Bella and Edward riding off into the morning together at a stupid speed, so I added Victoria. She is still paranoid. James is still a tracker, but you'll find out more about him in the chapters to come. Oh, and Edward suddenly gaining super-human traits is not completely random; I hope you all picked that up. Just in case you didn't... I didn't put Edward's week in there without a purpose.**

**No worries!  
Kylie M. **


	11. Affection

"_CRAP!_" Bella screamed when she realized what I was looking at. Victoria, knowing her cover was blow, practically _climbed_ down the car and began to ease herself into Bella's window.

"Bella, shield!" I yelled as swerved the car sharply to the left. Victoria all but let go of the door.

_Damn! How fast can this car _go_?_ Victoria's thoughts alerted me that she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, and I smirked at the opportunity.

Right as I pressed the gas pedal down farther, the car began to slow. My eyes shot to the speedometer, only to see it was quickly decreasing.

"Bella!" I said, pointing to the dial. Bella's eyes widened and she looked to a scale, the pointer pushed all the way down to the 'E'.

"Edward, we just ran out of gas." Bella assured me. She squealed when Victoria slammed her fist against Bella's shield. "There's probably some more in the back."

We waited until the car was slowed to a stop, which was actually relatively quickly. Bella held Victoria in an airtight shield for a few minutes until Victoria had passed out, and then we got out of the car. Upon opening the trunk, we found there was no gas.

"Edward, this is bad." Bella said quickly as she began ripping off the fabric on the bottom of the trunk. For a second I had thought she had gone mad (again; God forgive if I ever figure this woman out), until she revealed a compartment. An _empty_ compartment.

And just to make things worse, I heard the hum of a helicopter in the background.

"Bella, I hear the helicopter. We have to move." I whispered, pulling her with me as I began to walk towards a dune.

"Edward, I can't hear anything. We must have a few more minutes." Bella insisted. But then I began to hear thoughts.

_Oh, my Victoria, how she is like a feline in her feats of unrivaled awe. I love her._ I instinctively cringed.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked. I shook my head.

_Stupid, cocky, over-confident mutants. They let her get away, and they didn't even react! Surely they must have seen that boy, with their reflexes. Honestly, you'd think they would be able to do more than just stand there._ One of the soldiers.

_The shield smells simply delicious!_ James thought. I laughed at the absurdity of the statement. Who can smell people from _that_ distance?

"Edward, this is getting really annoying."

"Sorry, I'm sorry." I breathed, calming down. "It's just that that man has lost his head. He's beginning to think he can smell you."

_Just following the scent._ Again, I heard the helicopter, though it was louder. I finally saw it.

"I can see it!" I exclaimed, pointing a finger at the copter. Bella squinted and shook her head.

"I think you're going crazy. I don't see any—" Bella was interrupted by her phone. "Hello?" She answered, and held out the phone to me. "Apparently, it's Alice."

I hesitantly picked up the phone and held it to me ear. "Alice?"

"_EDWARD!!_" I had to hold the phone a few inches from my ear.

"Hi." I replied lamely.

"Oh my god! I saw you getting shot! Did it hurt? Who's following you? Where are you? Is Bella—" Alice paused for a second "So… has it come true yet?" I could hear the excitement peppering her voice. My thoughts went back to Alice's vision, and a smile broke out across my face. That just looked _right_.

"Yes."

Alice let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good!"

"Why, did it change?"

"No, I just wasn't able to see Bella before, and I can't see her again, so, I thought it was a different person. Oh well! Ask her about it! Bye!" Alice hung up before I could even begin to reply.

"What did Alice want?" Bella asked, coming up behind me. I handed her back the phone.

"She wanted to make sure we were alright. She saw me getting shot." I said. "And Alice is going crazy. She said that she couldn't see you before we met, and then she could see you after, but now she can't see you again."

Bella smiled angelically. "Just like I can chose when to place my shields, and who is affected by them, I can use a… different type of shield as well with the same principles. I can block out most powers."

I involuntarily frowned as I thought about the possibilities. She could let me in? Why wouldn't she? Did she not trust me enough to know her thoughts? But then, why would she let Alice?

Noticing my expression, Bella took my cheek in her hand and forced me to look at her. "Hey. If you don't want to use it, all you have to do is ask."

I gave a small smile, but then heard the helicopter again, and this time it was much closer.

"Bella, you have to have heard it _now_." I pleaded. Bella looked at me, confused for a second before shaking her head.

"I don't hear any—"

She didn't get to finish, because regardless of whether she heard it or not, a gun fired from the helicopter I could just barely see. Everything went slow motion again, though I was completely unaffected. I became agitated, and everything began to speed up a bit more, and soon I saw the bullet, moving relatively fast, compared to the last time I had been in this state.

But I still got Bella out of the way in time. As soon as I had her on the sand, me on top of her, time sped up to a normal pace and I finally became aware of Bella's fast, harsh breathing.

"Bella, are you alright?" I asked. She looked at me with her chocolate doe eyes, and she went blank for a second. She had stopped breathing. "Bella? Bella! Breathe!"

She blushed a beautiful crimson and continued her panting. "Thank you."

It was taking all my will power to keep myself from kissing her right then and there. I swear this woman was driving me crazy.

Right when I was about to get up, Bella pushed off the ground with her elbows, her lips landing right on mine. We were both shocked and stiff for a few moments before my will power crumbled into ancient dust. The moment was perfect.

Well, it would have been, except for the helicopter, fill with people who want to kill us, coming our way… and the someone that cleared their throat right behind us, _right_ when Bella wrapped her arms around my neck.

Why hadn't I heard him coming? I _knew_ Bella was making me crazy, but this was insane. Could I not keep a coherent thought while kissing her?

At the same time, a few moments after the guy cleared his throat, Bella and I broke apart to face the interrupter.


	12. Surprise!

I know I was supposed to be suspicious of anyone I came across, but _really_. How could you kill, or at least severely injure, a fifteen-year-old little Egyptian boy? Especially when he was standing there, his mouth open, _ogling_ at my Bella. I stifled my laugh with the overriding jealousy and over-protectiveness.

"Yes?" I asked curtly, making the boy's eyes immediately go to my face.

"Um…" I could practically feel the heat coming from his nearly invisible blush. "Uh… You do know that somebody just shot at you, right?"

"Yes."

"And that you were traveling at super-speed, right?"

"I have a pretty good idea." I said tightly. I rolled off of Bella and stood up. "I figured that the last time they shot at us."

"_Last time?_" The boy asked, incredulous. _Damn, I wonder if they're from the asylum._

"Yes." I answered to his unspoken question. The boy stared at me, as I did at him. Bella stifled a giggle by my side. "And how do you know what the asylum is?"

The boy's mouth dropped open, but he regained control quickly. "I'm—"

A few more bullets came barreling towards Bella and I, and I hauled her out of the way and behind a sand dune. The boy followed.

"Hey! I know somewhere we can go!" The boy yelled over the crescendo hum of the helicopter. "Come on!"

He went to grab Bella's hand, but I quickly scooped her up in my arms before she knew what was happening. I saw the path to a den of some sort in the boy's mind and set off immediately. When I entered the small cave, I put Bella down, waiting for the boy.

"Who were they?" The boy huffed, entering the cave and leaning against a wall. He was panting, while my breathing had already returned to normal.

"Some people from the asylum were looking for us." I said.

"For you." Bella reminded me. I sighed and nodded.

"For me." I reluctantly agreed. "They've been following us since yesterday."

"So…" The boy started. He was really starting to annoy me. "You're from the asylum too?" I nodded. "Well, I'm Jacob."

"I'm Edward."

"I'm Bella."

Jacob's eyes glazed over for a second when Bella spoke. "Pleasure to meet you, Bella." I suddenly felt the urge to growl. I wish Jacob didn't exist.

"The asylum?" I settled for, harshly. Jacob jumped and blushed while Bella smiled warmly at me and snuggled into my side. I wrapped my arm protectively around her.

"Um… yeah…" Jacob trailed off. _God, how can I concentrate with them staring at me? Especially_ her_?_

I couldn't stop my surprisingly fierce and animalistic growl, and Jacob grinned at me. Was he mentally sane? Well, I guess there's a reason he was admitted to the asylum…

"Another wolf!" He laughed. "I never thought there was another pack out there!"

"What pack?" I asked. Bella had cringed further into my chest at this point.

Jacob's smile fell. "Can't you turn into a wolf?" I shook my head. _Oh well… I'll just have to show him!_

At that moment, he exploded in a flurry of fur. I pushed Bella as gently as I could behind me as I stood up in a crouch. I hissed furiously at the ball of fur, which I soon after identified as a gargantuan wolf, and it looked taken aback. Frankly, I was too!

Since when do I get protective of someone I'd only met a few days ago? Since when did I get into problems like this? Since when did I get shot at? Since when did I have the ability to move at unnatural speeds? Since when did I fall in love?

It must have been the physical operation the doctors had attempted a week ago, and the effects were only coming into play now. There was no other explanation for how I could flick a bullet out of the air, or carry a fully-grown (though petite) woman on my back and still go several miles faster than a seemingly fit 15-year-old and recover in less than a minute. And _now_ I was _growling_?

With a fallen look on his face, the wolf turned back into Jacob, and he sat against the wall frowning. "You're not a wolf?"

I glared at Jacob and slowly sat down beside Bella, never breaking eye contact. "That was very unexpected." I said monotonously.

"Sorry, you just growled like that, and the only people I heard do that were pack members."

I nodded my head stiffly, taking no sympathy on this boy.

_Talk about a mood swing! Man, he's 180 from kissing Bella._ No kidding, dumb-ass! What you prefer, kissing my angel, or listening to a whiney teen who was lusting after _said angel_?

"So, before you attempted your little stunt, mind completing your explanation?" I asked as politely as I could. I looked to Bella and my eyes instantly softened. She large brown eyes were doe-like from Jacob's little… surprise, and she was gripping my shirt like a madwoman, not that I really minded, though it looked as if her delicate fingers would crack from her effort. I put my arm around her and she relaxed slightly. "And I'd prefer it if you would give us some warning next time." I added to Jacob, keeping my gaze on Bella.

**A/N: Um… So, I got a couple reviews asking the ages of everyone. So, ordered from longest to shortest stay at asylum…**

**Bella (kidnap age ****unknown ****for now!, currently 17)**

Alistair (kidnapped at age 15, currently 30) No wonder he's insane!  
Edward (kidnapped at age 8, currently 17)  
Jasper (kidnapped at age 13, currently 22)  
Emmett (kidnapped at 15, currently 24)  
Marcus (kidnapped at age 30, currently 37)  
Zafrina (kidnapped at age 21, currently 27)  
Rosalie (kidnapped at age 17, currently 23)  
Alice (kidnapped at age 15, currently 20)  
Tanya (kidnapped at age 17, currently 19)  
Ben (kidnapped at age 16, currently 18)  
Jane (kidnapped at age 6, currently 8)  
Aro (kidnapped at and currently 45) Hence the over-enthusiasm.  
Esme (currently 46)  
Carlisle (currently 44)  
Jacob (currently 15)

**Main characters (a little preview for you…)**

**So, there you have it. All the main characters will have more in-depth explanations later in the story, just to let you know. Oh my god, I have Bella's story all planned out!**

**No worries—**

**Kylie M.**

**P.S. Edward is the son of Elizabeth and Edward Masen, not Carlisle and Esme Cullen. Elizabeth is Esme's sister, therefore Esme is Edward's aunt.**


	13. Sleep talking

We slept on the cave's floor that night

We slept on the cave's floor that night. Thankfully, James nor Victoria, or any of the asylum, for that fact, knew where we were, and we were able to get some sleep. Something we had desperately needed. Yesterday, when Bella and I had had that standoff with James and his men, Bella stayed awake the entire time to get the shield up at a moment's notice.

I had silently voiced my dislike for Jacob, due to his thoughts about my Bella, and he backed off for the time being, reluctant as he was. I suspected that he wanted to get me into a false sense of security. Of course, I already knew his plan, his 'tactics', and every thought he had given his self-imposed task, all because he didn't connect the dots and figure out that I was a mind reader. He often thought he had accidentally voiced his thoughts aloud, though this was hardly the case. Though, to me, he might as well have.

Jacob had the 'courtesy' to sleep near the mouth of the cave, claiming to be a light sleeper. His voluminous snores that echoed through the small cave hardly backed that up.

So, I ended up on my back, Bella's head on my chest, and my arm around her shoulders. Not that I was complaining. She looked beautiful, even when she slept. Her reddish brown hair had circled her head like a halo, representing the true angel in her, before she settled for my chest as a pillow. As I said: not that I was complaining.

And then I found out she sleep-talked. The _only_ insight I had in her mind, and half of it had to be incoherent.

"Edward…" The first time she had mumbled my name, an hour or so after she had fallen asleep, I thought she had waken up, but her eyes were closed and I smiled to myself, knowing that she was dreaming of me. I was sure that when I eventually fell asleep, my dreams would be only of her.

"Silly rabbit…" She mumbled. I turned my head to look at her. She was silently giggling. "Trix are for kids!"

Her giggles gained volume and soon turned into a musical laugh that I could listen to for all of eternity and never get bored of. When she quieted down, it must have a minute after her outburst—

"I love you, Edward…" It broke my heart to know that she wasn't awake, that I couldn't kiss her like I wanted to. I settled for a tender kiss on her nose. She giggled again and wrapped her left arm around my neck, pulling us into an awkward hugging position on the ground. I didn't mind: this had to be the most comfortable I'd ever felt.

When it was apparent that she wasn't going to say anything else, I wrapped my arms around her tiny frame, hugging her to my chest, and I fell asleep.

She was in my dream.

_I was still in the desert. Surprise, surprise. For a moment I thought I had waken up, but I soon dismissed the idea. I had no feeling— completely numb from something I couldn't identify._

_And then Bella came over a dune, running actually. She tripped and fell, sliding headfirst down the rest of the small, sandy hill. I tried to laugh and get up to help her, but I was still completely numb. _

_Bella got up, shaking herself to get sand out from her clothes. Little did she know that this was torture to me, to not be able to feel her silken hair on my fingertips. To not be able to even move. _

_I watched in unbearable silence as another figure appeared over the dune, sliding down like a large child. At first I suspected Emmett, but glowered when the figure came out of the glare and I saw Jacob's lustful eyes staring hungrily at my Bella, just like the pathetic wolf he was._

_Bella laughed, not noticing Jacob, before he came right up behind her and grabbed her shoulder, and not playfully, either. This was just cruel._

_At first he asked, right to my angel's terrified face, why she had done it. Frankly, I had no idea of what 'it' was. But it involved me, I knew that much. Bella sobbed, backing away from Jacob, crying that it was because she loved me. Jacob was pissed. My anger at him gave me feeling, and soon I had the crying Bella in my arms and was running full-speed ahead, away from Jacob._

_I looked over my shoulder, not seeing any giant wolf or anything else on the desert, but turned ahead to run into a wall of fur. For a second, it seemed as though I'd be able to break through, but in the end, a giant paw swatted at me and Bella, sending us down to the sand._

_The next time I came to, Bella was gone. Drag marks and paw prints led off into the distance, where a sandstorm mercilessly destroyed my one chance of finding Bella._

I could feel my muscles tense as I woke up again, though I was greatly relieved that the dream was just a nightmare. My fists relaxed when I felt a small, warm body pressed up against me. I must have been going crazy, because I heard a slow, steady, heavenly sound, a slow beating of a drum. Only a heartbeat could sound like that. Bella's heartbeat. I smiled, thinking it was just fine if this was insanity.

And then I heard an ear-splitting snore, and my muscles tensed immediately. I pulled Bella closer to me, mentally vowing I would never let her go. That stupid mongrel could growl all he wanted, but Bella was mine. She told me so. Her consciousness didn't matter, just that at least a part of her knew it, even if she didn't.

And I loved her, with all my heart, body, and soul. Nothing she would ever do would change that. I could almost hear Alice screaming in joy, and I suddenly felt incredibly sorry for Jasper. He'd get the blunt end of Alice's excitement, and he was at least a few miles away, if not a hundred. Poor Jasper, what did you get yourself into?

But back to the matters at hand.

Jacob was a very bad thing. He lusted after Bella, not loved her. He would use her, not cherish her. He was _fifteen_, and Bella was two years older than him— my age. And there was nothing he could do about it.

**A/N: Warning! (insert fire alarm here) I hope it's clear to you that this is not, on any axis, a Jacob/Bella story. I **_**hate**_** Jacob/Bella stories (no offense to Team Jacob, just firmly stating my belief) and Jacob and go crawl up in a corner and die for all I care. I am Team Edward all the way! So, yeah, just a heads-up for all you TJ believers.**

**No worries,**

**Kylie M.**

**P.S. To all those of you who don't know what I was talking about with Aro… Aro was kidnapped just two months before this story began, so naturally he is enthusiastic about being in an 'interesting' place. He thinks this is all one big adventure and always sees the brightest side of things, no matter how silly or ridiculous they may be. He was kidnapped **_**and**_** is currently 45.**


	14. Anger Issues

Early the next morning, Bella left. Before I even had a chance to wake up, she was gone. I began to panic, waking Jacob up in the process, until I found a note.

_Edward-  
__  
Went out to find a trading post for gas and food- I'll be back later. Try not to kill yourself._

_-Bella_

I let out a deep breath and basically collapsed with relief. I didn't even notice Jacob reading over my shoulder. He snickered, and I glared menacingly at him. He was _not_ making my life easier.

"So, I guess it's just you and me, eh?" Jacob asked heartily, clapping me on the shoulder. I slapped his hand away and trudged away to calm myself. I didn't want to be a murderer... but Jacob was pushing me off the edge.

But, it turns out wolf-boy was helpful with _one_ thing… breakfast. I didn't even realize how hungry I was until he brought us a large cooler he had buried in the sand. How he got the cooler, let alone the food, was beyond me. Then again, nomads wouldn't exactly deny a horse-sized wolf food and water… but they must have been wondering about the cooler.

"Jacob?" I asked politely, even though it was like a curse to say his name. Jacob, startled, stared at me.

_Oh god. _"Yeah?"

"Why are you out here?" My voice was strained as… images of my Bella ran through his head. "And you have _no_ idea how irritating that is."

Jacob's eyes widened in horror. _Can he read my— _

"Yes, Jacob, I can read your mind." I snapped.

_Sorry._ "Well, I'm here for basically the same reason as you— I escaped from the asylum a few days ago. I've been out here ever since. I got out near Cairo, but the Feds drove me back down the Nile. Oh, and _then_ I started hearing the helicopters— that scared the crap out of me. When I couldn't hear it anymore, I tried to find a new place to hide, and I found you two." Jacob paused for a few seconds. "Now, how do you move so fast? Aren't you only supposed to have one power?"

"I'm a guinea pig." I smirked at Jacob's popping eyes. "Not in the literal term. I was the one out of our unit that they did all the tests on."

_Well, sucks to be you._

"Oh, thank you Jacob. I feel so much better now that I've been comforted by a flea-ridden _mutt_." I snarled, standing up. Jacob glared at me. And he snapped (apparently he has major anger issues), his thoughts about how 'unfair' I was being, and how I hated him for no reason. He obviously forgot about his _digusting_, _vile_ thoughts that lusted after my Bella.

"Sure, no prob, _freak_!" Jacob yelled, exploding into a wolf. Well, at least I knew I wasn't the only irritated one. _You know I could beat you! I'm stronger! I'm better!_

"Want to bet?" I swear I hissed like a feral cat.

_Hell yeah!_ Jacob lunged at me, snarling viciously. Time slowed for me when his claws were mere inches from my face. And I saw something very strange.

Hair by hair, I saw the fur on Jacob's tail freeze. I wouldn't have caught the incredibly quick act if I hadn't been in a slower section of time. In less than a second, and that was in my slow motion, Jacob was at a complete standstill, in mid-air. _Millimeters_ from my face.

"I know you guys must be hungry, but this is ridiculous." Bella's voice sounded at the mouth of the cave. I instantly relaxed from my crouch. "No need to fight over the last piece of meat."

A heavy package landed with a resounding thump at my feet. "We're not too far from the river. I got some food and some gas for the car."

I prayed to God that Bella wouldn't invite Jacob to come along with us.

"I'm sorry, Jacob, but our car is only a two-seater." Bella lied surprisingly well. I was about to let out my breath before she continued. "But, if you need transportation, meet us at the Cairo airport in six days."

I mentally cursed.

"Edward, come on." Bella said, and I took one last chance to glare at Jacob before picking up the bag and following Bella out of the cave. As I got out into the light, I saw that Bella had gotten new clothes. Instead of her raggedy jeans and t-shirt, she had on a pair of white capris and blue tank top with a thin white over-shirt, the sleeves rolled up to the crease of her elbow. I couldn't help but stare.

Bella took the bag from my hands and swung the strap over her shoulder. We began walking to the place we left our car. Once we were inside, me in the driver's seat, I turned on the 'AC' and sat back in my seat.

"You know, if you didn't like Jacob, you should've said so." Bella laughed lightly. I smiled. "You didn't have to try to rip his throat out."

"I didn't want to say anything." A.K.A. I didn't want to sound like a jealous jerk.

Bella reached across the middle of the car and kissed my cheek, an action that would've made me collapse if I hadn't already been sitting.

"Let's try and make a few hundred miles before the end of the day." Bella suggested in her angel's voice. All I could do is nod and start the car.

Bella fell asleep just a few minutes after I began driving. We had gotten back onto the road, so we at least got a less bumpy ride. A couple hours later, the car ran out of gas again, and I woke Bella up to help me change the gas. She wouldn't wake up.

"Bella?" I asked, nudging her once again. The action just pushed her into her door. I got up and went over to her side, to get her out of the car, and stopped dead in my tracks. As soon as I had gotten a view of her, I notice a long, poisonous-looking thing sticking out of the side of her neck, a small trail of dried blood running down on to her shoulder. At least the stain wasn't very big.

Panicking, I opened the back door, nearly ripping it off its hinges in my haste, and dug through the bag to find the 'satellite' phone. Once I found it, I realized I didn't know how to use it at all.

Emmett had shown me memories of how to use them, but I'd never touched one before. Hesitantly, I began pressing random buttons until I came to a contact's list. I scrolled down to the one saying 'Carlisle Cullen' and pressed it. The phone began to ring, to my relief.

A minute or so later, someone answered.

"Bella?" I recognized the voice of Carlisle.

"No, but I need your help." I said.

"Edward!"

"Yes, who else?" I was getting a bit impatient. "But there's something in Bella's neck and I have no idea what it is, and I don't know what to do, and—"

"Edward, relax!" Carlisle hushed calmly from the phone. "What does it look like?"

"A dart. Bella's not waking up."

"All you need to do is just take it out. How long is it, about?"

I looked closely at the slender piece of metal. "About three inches, probably three and a half since I don't know how far it is in her neck."

"So, she'll be out for at least three hours. How long ago did she become unresponsive?"

"A couple hours, at most."

"Then expect her to wake up in an hour or so."

"Thank you, Carlisle."

"Anytime, son."

Carlisle hung up, and I placed the phone back in the bag before taking the dart carefully out of Bella's neck. A few drops of blood ran out of the nearly non-existent hole before running dry.

Worried, I went back to my side of the car and sat down to wait out the remainder of Bella's sleeping minutes.

Until I heard thoughts.

**A/N: BELLA'S GOING TO DIE!! No, jkage, but... _snapple jacks! _Who do you think's trying to kill Edward this time? We already have James, Victoria, Jacob... Let me know who you think the new character is!**

**No worries,  
Kylie M.**


	15. Split Deceit

_He smells weird. Worried. I must've hit the girl._

I smell _worried?_ Who the hell _smells_ emotions? I got out of the car and turned my head in the direction of the thoughts to see a cloud of dust coming up from the sand. When I strained my ears to try and hear the hum of a car's engine, I heard the soft but quick patter of feet across the desert. Whoever it was, was running. Like, _my_ type of running.

_I don't understand why they sent me to the mind reader. James has a more complex mind than me. It would confuse the target. Oh, mind reader, if you are listening to me, I am Laurent. I am with James and Victoria. I am an agent of the asylum. I am going to try and capture you, and I am 100 percent certain I will lose._

I laughed. At least this guy had a sense of humor and wasn't cocky.

_I knew you'd get a kick out of that. But remember that just because I highly doubt myself, doesn't mean you should too. It's always good to over-estimate an enemy, rather than under-estimate and lose._

The man, Laurent, slowed to a stop a few hundred yards in front of me. I could hear his even breathing, telling me instantly that he was like me in that term at least. Laurent had dark drown, nearly black, hair, and olive-toned skin. Italian, if I'd ever seen one. I remembered one of Jasper's memories of an Italian baby-sitter we'd had once.

"So, you're Edward Masen, notorious escapee and test subject for the asylum." Laurent said in a casual, accented voice. "I was wondering when I'd get to meet you. Did you know that I was a doctors' toy too before James and Victoria chose me for their trackers' unit?"

"No, I did not." I replied, deciding to keep my manners as long as Laurent kept his. "But, I must admit, I'd feel much more comfortable with this if Bella were actually conscious."

"That was necessary. If it broke out into a fight, I wanted it to be a fair one." Laurent shrugged. "I didn't want to be out-numbered, and I didn't want you to get battered up trying to protect her." I was about to point out that, since Bella was unconscious, I'd still have to protect her, but Laurent kept speaking. "I don't try to harm the incapable."

I could feel my eyes widening. "Well, I'm honestly surprised." I said with a breathy laugh. "I thought you'd be blood-thirsty, or something like James. Crazy and paranoid."

"James had… modifications that exceed humanistic limitations." Laurent explained. He sat down comfortably, as I did. "James was selected for a special set of modifications that were tested on a human subject." I didn't fail to notice how he looked pointedly at me. "But they went over-board with the whole no-sleep, split-personality thing."

Well, that cleared it all up. Seriously.

"Why is the asylum trying to capture me, especially?" I asked out of the blue. "I mean, there must be dozens—hundreds—of escapees out there, but—"

"You're their test-subject." Laurent said casually. "In their opinion, you are their research, their library of modifications, their worst enemy. You can use their own tools against them. And, I mean, _you_, with a _shield_," Laurent laughed once, "is bound to attract some worry. With her," he pointed to Bella, "you could waltz anywhere in the world, and nobody would be able to stop you."

I nodded my head thoughtfully as my mind considered the possibilities.

"But, then, we'd always just find someone to threaten you two, or at least Bella with." Laurent suggested. In his mind, Carlisle and Esme appeared briefly before Laurent caught himself.

All was silent for a few seconds before I blurted something else out. "Do you know how to fill a car's gas tank?"

Laurent looked surprised before the question registered in his mind. "Um… yeah…"

"Could you help me?" I felt unbelievably awkward for asking one of my enemies how to fill a car with gas, but this wasn't exactly the kind of thing you learned in an asylum, never going outside in all that you could remember.

"Sure…" Laurent slowly got up and closed the distance between him and the car. _Is this some kind of trick?_

"No, this isn't." I scowled at Laurent and handed him the large container of gas Bella had put in the backseat. "But, by all means, if you convince the asylum to give driving lessons, it makes it so much easier when they escape."

"If they escape."

I shrugged my shoulders. "A minor factor. Everyone has to come out sometime."

Laurent let out a humorless laugh. "Yeah, I guess you'd think that."

"Oh, come on. Nobody can survive without seeing the sun _once_ in a while." I reasoned.

"Ha! You were in there for nine years without going outside, and you turned out fine." Laurent said while pouring the gas into a hole he had opened in the side of the car. When the container was all empty, he set it on the ground, shocking red against a pale orange, and brushed his hands together dutifully. _Okay. This is going to be mess—_

As soon as I heard those words, I concentrated, and for the first time on command, time slowed for me enough to see Laurent's hand pulled back in a fist, and that coming towards me. A flicker of recognition flashed across his eyes, and he began to move at my speed.

"So, you've learned how to do that quickly." Laurent hissed.

The air whistled around my ear as Laurent's fist flew right by my head, only missing by millimeters.

"And just when I thought the asylum had a heart…" I mused, mainly to myself. Laurent heard and laughed. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a dart, almost exactly like the one in Bella's neck.

Crap.

"It seems as though James took longer than I thought." Laurent said, taking a brief look to the south. "Apparently I was wrong."

And, speeding up so dramatically I couldn't even begin to block it, Laurent jerked his feet to my shins, knocking me down, and thrust the dart into my shoulder before I had hit the sand.

**A/N: Who honestly knew it was going to be Laurent? So, I tried to make his appearance as close to the Twilight Series' character for him; neutral, and then an enemy. And then death, but... maybe not for a while. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the whole 'smelling' emotions thing. Did you know that sometimes you can tell an emotion from a person's pulse, or blood pattern? That's sort of what I was getting at, but with smelling, like wolves. Their ability to smell the amount of adrenaline in your blood loosely contributes to Laurent's unique ability (but you'll learn more on that later).**

**No worries,  
Kylie M. **


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